Tech giants back TheDirty.com

Legal briefs argue for reversal of Jones ruling

2:26 AM,
Dec. 10, 2013

Sarah Jones (second from left) leaves the Federal Courthouse in Covington on July 11 with one of her attorneys and her family after a jury awarded her $338,000 in her defamation lawsuit against gossip website TheDirty.com.

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The nation's largest technology companies say a federal judge's decision in Covington allowing the gossip website TheDirty.com to be sued for defamation by a former Bengals cheerleader threatens to cripple free expression and commerce that has flourished on the Internet.

Google, eBay, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft and others have recently filed briefs in the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati asking that the decision be reversed.

Oral arguments are expected to be heard early next year with a decision likely by summer. ...